Well, all of that just happened. The Walking Dead last night just kicked us all in the nether regions and then took off on us like a common mugger. “This Sorrowful Life” had a little bit of everything; Death, redemption, love, hope and a lot of failure. In yet another “quiet” episode a lot sure happened and Jeremy and Kevin are here to discuss most of it. Yeah we are supposed to say all of it but come ne some things will fall through the cracks, cough, Carol, Hershel and Rick. It is all lead up to next week’s season three finale and potential showdown between Rick and The Governor. Is that the battle we even want to see now? Has last night’s events changed the main event showdown? How does one man cause so much havoc on a whim while the leader of a group can’t come up with the same idea? Who had Zombie kill of the week? How do you hotwire a car with one hand? What laws exist regarding divorce in the time of the zombie apocalypse? Just keep reading to find out.

Jeremy: Well who would have thought it possible to take a backwoods, agitating racist and make you sad to see him die?

Kevin: I thought it was pretty easy. He’s been so engaging as a character even if you don’t agree with his opinions. Throw in him doing something heroic for the main group; you’ve got an awesome recipe that equals sad to die.

Jeremy: Yeah as soon as he dropped Michonne off you knew he was dead. He was such an engaging character I do not want to see him go.

Jeremy: I called that as soon as the gunshot went off. But let’s start at the beginning. Merle showed just how in tune with himself and the people around him. He called it right to Rick’s face that he was going to waffle.

Kevin: You know I missed the plan at the beginning. We they going to take a small team to the meeting point and try to take out the Governor?

Jeremy: No the plan was Rick is a dumbass and believed The Governor. He was going to have Daryl and Merle grab her and the three of them were going to take her to The Governor.

Kevin: Ah, he is a dumb ass then. Not sure how he went from declaring war last episode to turning to a pussy. Glad to see the dumb ass crown on someone other than a woman.

Jeremy: This was the brilliance of Merle in this episode though. He saw it. He knew what it took to do the dirty work. Rick and that gang have only survived. Merle did things because he was told.

Kevin: If he was really brilliant, he would have convinced them that the Governor double crossed everyone he made a deal with then helped set up an ambush. Not that his plan didn’t go well, but they could have wiped everyone out.

Jeremy: He basically was without coming out and saying it. He was still at a standstill internally. The entire scene inside the cell was great. The shadowing. Merle continually moved back and forth between light and dark.

Kevin: Well, that’s how the talking things work. If you say it, maybe people will listen. Didn’t notice the light much but not surprised either.

Jeremy: I watched the replay and noticed it the second time around. They gave a very good three arc story. His interaction with Darryl was the binding agent between Rick and Michonne. When Merle called Daryl a sheep to clarify.

Kevin: That’s what I really liked after seeing last night’s episodes; they concentrated on different sets of people each of the last 3 weeks. You can only do that when you have well developed characters.

Jeremy: yea and in the process develop them more. When they gave Daryl and Glen their moment I said “I don’t like where this is heading.”

Kevin: It went surprisingly smooth, all things considered. No brawl, no real name calling.

Jeremy: Well the issue wasn’t between them though. What I was getting at was the fact Daryl was trying to make peace. It was one of those Walking Dead Character moments and we all know where it leads.

Kevin: Sometimes people take their frustrations out on the wrong people so I thought Daryl might get an earful at least. So are you implying someone else is dying?

Jeremy: Well that we will save for later. But the norm is any sort of character introspection is followed by death.

Jeremy: It became clear though it was Merles time as the episode went along. He started the series angered with a black person and he leaves the show after getting annoyed by a black woman but letting her go.

Kevin: She knew the whole time that she could get out of it too. Michonne did a great job of pushing his buttons.

Jeremy: her calm demeanor was kind of jarring. Especially when the zombies came at her; she dropped that in a hurry

Kevin: She won the award for awesome zombie kill of the week in the process too. Wire garrote beheading.

Jeremy: See I liked the popping head zombie. Michonne’s smarts really shown through this week when it came to survival. How badass was Merle hotwiring a car with one hand and teeth?

Kevin: I about fell over laughing. Last week, I defend Andrea for not trying to use a car then Merle goes and hot wires one this week. Always amused when I look like an idiot.

Jeremy: Oh I thought if that immediately. “Yeah that’s right totally bringing that up tomorrow.”

Kevin: They never did present her as a criminal with army skills though so he might have skills the blonde dummy doesn’t. That’s the only defense I have left.

Jeremy: In this case I will give it to ya on that one. It was pointed out to me about the alarm on that piece of garbage car. Then he rolls it back and it has some sweet rims. So it made sense. The music however did not. Oh and Merle feeding whiskey to the zombies and laughing was my favorite bit.

For a split second, I wondered what Merle was doing. As soon as he did the first lurch forward in the car, I knew he had a brilliant plan.

Jeremy: I thought he was going to Woodbury. Screw up the entire town. By going t the meeting site though goes back to what you said about his planning. He came up with that out of the blue or was it his plan all along?

Kevin: That’s one thing you can never get clarified now. He had to have known the Governor would never take him back, especially after he was supposed to fight his own brother. So maybe he took Michonne along just to get his thoughts out before the inevitable death he knew was coming.

Jeremy: Hmm, hadn’t thought of it that way. He had to have known Rick and the group would go after her. So you saying he used her as a confessional?

Kevin: I’m just throwing it out there as an idea. They didn’t leave much in the way of clues to me as to his state of mind. It’s possible though. He also could have known the group would be more cohesive without him and that was their only chance against Woodbury.

Jeremy: On Talking Dead Michael Rucker said Merle just got tired of hearing Michonne. I did wonder myself if he did it as well to protect Daryl. He aimed right at The Governor and stupid Ben gets in the way.

Kevin: He could have gotten tired of her. Like I said though, as much as they concentrated on him the only driving momentum for him was making sure Rick didn’t wuss out.

Jeremy: Yeah both as a means to protect and a way to prove himself right. So Merles plan seems to be working until that damn walker breaks in.

Kevin: He didn’t have much time though because Martinez and whoever was near him at realized there was a sniper. The zombie sped that process though.

Jeremy: Yeah and boy that was a nice fight scene. Finger biting being the icing on top of icing on ice cream on cake layered in diamonds.

Kevin: I figured the Governor had shot him in the head. Poor Daryl though has to knock off zombie Merle.

Jeremy: As soon as he fired and it went to commercial I knew it wasn’t a head shot. The Governor is way too far gone for that. he is a total dick now and Merle’s betrayal was going to end up costing him. Then, poor Daryl has to find him. This was the hardest scene of any in the history of this show.

Kevin: I wish the Governor had been this much of an ass the whole time. It was a tough scene, but they had the right person in it even if his hairdo looked way stylized for some reason.

Jeremy:Yeah emo cut Daryl was distracting. His anguish upon seeing ZombieMerle was spot on. It kept with the fact that around Merle Daryl sees his brother and not the menace everyone else does. So when he broke down crying I was depressed. The anger was anticlimactic to me but then they just ended the show right there. You just had to sit with it.

Kevin: And get ready for the season finale next week.

Jeremy:Before we go for this week; how great was that wedding ring, um, procurement? Oh and the subsequent proposal? That is a man’s way of proposing if I have ever seen one. “Here bitch what ya say?”